“We should finish up in here before he comes in to check on you.” He laughed, then set to work removing my sweater and the camisole I wore underneath.
I saw the uncertainty on Cole’s face as I stood before him in my underwear and bra. He didn’t know what to do for the best. None of them had ever seen me completely naked. It wasn’t something I had ever been ready for, but after everything I had been through in the last days, Cole seeing me naked, really wasn’t my biggest worry. I knew and trusted him enough to know he would only care for me in the state I was. He would never take advantage of me.
“Take them off Cole…..please.” I whispered.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I need to feel clean. I trust you.” I saw his eyes light up slightly at that comment. He knew my trust was not easily earned.
Without any awkwardness on either of our parts, Cole removed the last of my clothes and helped me to use the tiny bottle of shower gel to get clean. I was relieved when the overwhelming scent of The Darkness Hailey and I had been trapped in, was replaced with the floral notes of the hotel toiletries.
Cole shampooed my hair twice while I tried hard to keep myself up with the help of the wall I leant on, and my trembling legs.
Then finally, the water I had been watching swirl around the plughole, turned from the crimson it had been, to clear, and I knew I was clean, though I still didn’t feel it. I knew though, that it would take time to lessen that skin crawling feeling of him being on me, just as it had before.
Wordlessly. Cole helped me to step out of the shower and I stood before him shivering as he dried me off, and hurriedly dressed me in clean underwear, and a t-shirt, which I knew from the smell, was Kyle’s. I realised one of the guys must have slipped the clothes in while we were in the shower, and was grateful for their thoughtfulness. The oversized shirt was just what I needed, long enough to cover everything I didn’t want to flash, but loose enough to not anger my cuts and bruises.
I sat on the closed toilet while Cole quickly stripped off his own, now soaked clothes, until he stood before me in only his tight black boxers. The fact I was too exhausted and in pain to appreciate his beautiful body didn’t escape me, but Cole cut that realisation short.
“Let’s go, beautiful. Get those bruises checked out and then, hopefully, you can rest.” He picked me up under my arms like a child, and held me close to his bare, warm chest. I wasn’t complaining, since him holding me that way jostled my ribs less, and I got to hold on to him and bury my face in his shoulder.
“Thank you….for taking care of me.” I whispered as he opened the door and stepped out into the master bedroom of the suite.
“Always Brains.” He replied with a gentle kiss on my temple.
As Cole ever so carefully laid me in the middle of the huge king size bed, I looked up and smiled, as Matt and Kade stood at one side of me, and Kyle beside Cole at the other.
Being surrounded by them all was like a dream, one I never thought, as I sat on the cold damp floor of that basement in the dark, I would ever get to live again.
To have them all back, to feel the love and protectiveness they all radiated, aimed at me, was a miracle I would never ever take for granted. I had fought to come back to them, and I always would. Through them I had found a strength within me that I had never known was there; a strength that I would forever use to protect myself, our family, and the men I loved from whatever was to come our way.
If our pasts were anything to go by, our lives ahead were not likely to be plain sailing, but as long as we had each other, we’d find our way through the good times and the bad.
“I’m going to be ok.” I told them all, needing to take the worry and apprehension from their faces. “We all are. It’s over. He’s dead.”
“We know, Love.” Kade agreed with a soft smile.
“We’ve got each other. Like you said, that’s all that’s important.” Cole added.
“I love you….all of you.” I whispered as I looked between the four of them. In a moment they were all sat on the bed at my sides, and holding onto me, Cole and Matt each held a hand, and Kyle had his hand on my knee, and Kade my thigh.
“We love you too, Baby, so fucking much.” And despite the pain, exhaustion and everything else, there with my guys, safe and loved, my world was complete.
FOUR MONTHS LATER….
I was nervous as I stood in line, sandwiched between Cole and Matt, but excited too. I had worked damned hard to stand there and there was no way I was going to let my anxiety over the hundreds of other people around us, stop me from enjoying my moment, and the guys.
“You doing ok, Mi Amado?” Matt asked from behind me, his words whispered into my ear, his warm breath on my neck sending shivers up my back.
“Nervous.” I admitted.
“You worked really fucking hard for this, Livy. Enjoy it.” Cole advised with a wink as he turned to us. He was right. For the three months after I arrived home after Matt rescued Hailey and I, I had thrown myself into online school work, determined to graduate with the guys.
The trauma of being taken again, of reliving my memories of Chris, and of seeing The Shadow die on top of me, had set me back some, and I wasn’t feeling able to face school again, especially in
